


A Series of Firsts

by Saraste



Series: Gigolas Week 4 [1]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: (I'm not even trying to be serious), (SERIOUSLY), Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Background Relationships, Cooking, Dwarf Courting, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Family, Fluff, Gigolas week 4, Ignoring some canon..., M/M, gigolas week day 1: food/cuisine, gigolas week day 2: pets, gigolas week day 3: outsider pov, silliness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-11 16:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10469586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saraste/pseuds/Saraste
Summary: Preparing a meal to one's intended is part of dwarven courting.





	1. Courting Food

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for first day of gigolas week (the actual beginning of which I missed as I thought it was today, Finnish week beginning from Monday...)  
> Anyway... This is my second time writing for this prompt during gigolas week (I think all the prompts are the same as during gigolas week 3, which was in 2015), but this at least instantly inspired me into writing a silly fluffsy ficlet of Legolas eating spicy stew.

There are many reasons as to why Legolas loves Gimli, but one of them is that Gimli introduced him to dwarven cuisine.

 

After centuries of somewhat bland elven dishes, which had been all Legolas had known all his life, the burst of spices on his tongue, the first time Gimli prepares food for him, is a revelation.

 

That the food is part of their courting is even more wonderful, and Legolas had been prepared to praise any manner of food Gimli put before him. And now, letting the wonderful stew flirt with his taste-buds, Legolas knows that he should not have doubted his little love and his skill in anything that he sets his mind to.

 

‘Weren’t expecting that, were you?’ Gimli asks, a smirk in his tone, that ever-present undercurrent of amusement his voice has most of the time that he talks to Legolas.

 

Legolas swallows, looks at  _ his dwarf _ , and gives his judgement. ‘It is wonderful.’

 

‘But aren’t used to this much spices, are you?’ There’s stew on Gimli’s beard, he has only tasted his creation after Legolas had gotten his taste, a custom of his people whenever a courting partner prepared a meal, the very first of many, to his prospective spouse, as Legolas had learned moments ago.

 

Legolas wants to kiss the stew away, and does. ‘It’s fiery just as you, meleth-nîn, and surprising, just as loving you has been.’

 

‘Finish your stew. It’s bad luck if you don’t.’

 

Legolas even licks his bowl clean after seconds and half of a third helping, not daring to tempt fate.


	2. Kin but not kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thranduil does not take his son's relationship with a dwarf in a good way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for prompt 2: pets, for gigolas week 4. I interpreted the prompt veeeery loosely. And Thrandy is kinda ooc/tropey.

‘Begone from my sight, you and your  _ pet!’  _

 

Legolas staggers his father’s words are accompanied by a slap, the sound which echoes in the cavernous space of the reception hall. He fights to keep his face impassive, doesn’t show how much the red mark on his cheek smarts, how deep his father’s words cut. He had dared hope his father would understand, would accept his union, even if begrudgingly, yet he has never been farther from the truth, as his father’s reaction clearly shows.

 

He meets his father’s eyes, unwavering, unflinching. ‘Very well, father. Goodbye.’

 

The warm hand in his is the only thing keeping his composure as he flips around on his heel, a move he has copied from his father he must admit, and begins to stride away from his father, his home and, maybe, most of his kin. 

 

Kin by blood, at least.

 

For through Gimli he has new kin, of dwarrow-kind, who will, so Gimli tells him, welcome him with gladness. 

 

‘I’m amazed my father still has a head on his shoulders,’ he finally comments, ‘your blood running so hot.’ He looks at Gimli, whose face is twisted in sadness. For Legolas,  _ because of Legolas _ . 

 

Gimli sighs, sounding gruff and exasperated, and speaks. ‘I am trying to work on my temper and not have our kingdoms at war, especially given as we have barely seen the end of one.’

 

Gimli’s hand in his is warm and comforting, big fingers around Legolas’ own slimmer fingers, almost delicate compared to Gimli’s, but Legolas adores even those fingers and the pleasure they give him through any touch, even innocent as now. Legolas walks away from the only home he’s ever known with his  _ husband _ by his side and doesn’t worry, much.

 

‘I hope your kin will be more kind,’ he says when they near the gates, when he cannot hold it in any longer.

 

‘You do remember that my cousin is married to an elf, don’t you?’

 


	3. One Love-struck Fool to Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 80 years on and Kíli, son of Dís, is still young at heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Outsider POV.

 

 

‘Fee, Fee! FEE!’ Kíli scampers after his brother, who is hurrying along the corridor. Kingship is looming, as near as it ever looms with their uncle stubbornly living on and being sometimes still almost sickeningly sappy with their resident burglar. 

 

Finally, he catches up to his brother, who sighs. ‘What is it, Kíli, I’m busy.’

 

‘You’ll never guess who wee Gimli married!’ Kíli’s face is near split in a wide grin, gleeful yet fond. He is not one to judge, given whom his own marriage braids belong to.

 

That makes Fíli stop on his tracks and turn his somewhat harried face toward Kíli, who vows to have a stern talk with Ori, who really  _ should _ be taking better care of his husband. ‘Who?’

 

‘That prissy blonde prince, Thranduil’s son, you know?’

 

‘No.’

 

Kíli delights in the incredulity in his brother’s voice. ‘Well,’ he must admit, ‘he can’t be as bad as that, since Tauriel likes him.’

 

‘And  _ you  _ claim not to be a lovesick fool, even after all this time, brother?’

 

‘What can I say?’

 

‘But is he good for Gimli? You  _ do _ know that story about him and Glóin when they were in Mirkwood during the Quest…’

 

Kíli can’t hold his giggles in. ‘I’ll bet he’s completely forgotten, the love-struck fool!’ 

 

‘You’re saying it like you  _ aren’t  _ one, brother.’

 

Kíli sighs fondly, thinking about his lady-love. ‘I’m not denying it.’

 

*

 

They both have to admit that Gimli is love-struck, as the elf helps him dismount their horse at the gates of Erebor. There is familiarity in the small touches, in the almost absent way Gimli fusses, adoration on the elven features as he does so, which Kíli only recognizes because he has had the last eighty years to learn the subtlety of elven expressions, not that Tauriel keeps her expressions subtle these days.

 

‘Gimli!’ Kíli exclaims, when he simply cannot hold it in any longer. 

 

Fussing hands touch on an elven arm and a red-haired head, face battle-worn, turns. Gimli’s mouth draws up into a big wide smile, even though there is a touch of apprehension on him, which Kíli can’t quite place.

 

‘Cousin,’ Gimli greets when they are paces apart, an uncommon address, but his tone not sounding unkind.

 

Kíli draws him into an almost boyish hug, quick and tight and unrestrained. He can’t help but smile. ‘So, you found yourself an elf from your travels, did you?’ Kíli’s still-sharp eyes glance over the braids in two sets of hair. 

 

‘Yes, this is Legolas Greenleaf. My husband.’ 

 

Kíli looks the blonde prince up and down, sees his hesitation and just has to go for it. He draws the prince into a hug, too. ‘Welcome to the family.’

 

The soft ‘thank you’ is almost too soft, but Kíli still hears it.

 

Fíli introduces himself again, one heir to another, on the edges of Kíli’s perception but he holds Gimli close, looks at his face, sees the warmth in his eyes as he looks at the elf. His husband. ‘He makes you happy?’

 

‘Beyond what I could have imagined.’ Gimli turns to him, searches Kíli’s face. ‘We came through Mirkwood. His father was not kind.’

 

‘When is he ever, the prissy bastard?’ Kíli opines. ‘He’s more than welcome here, not like he’ll be the first elf in Erebor.’

 

‘And how  _ is _ Tauriel?’

 

‘She’s well, and will be happy to see your husband.’

 

Kíli knows that it will all be alright, by the delighted light on Gimli’s face every time that he hears the word  _ husband _ . 

 

… and then they are bowled over by relatives.

 


	4. Infinitely More Important

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gimli and Glóin have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for day 4 of gigolas week 4, but I chose not to use the prompt as I used it last gigolas week and traumatized myself.

 

Legolas has been warmly welcomed into the fold of Gimli’s relatives and his mother has commandeered Gimli’s elf for her own nefarious purposes, to have a “private chat with your darling husband, now shoo, Gimli and go talk with your father.”

 

Said father had hugged Gimli so hard his ribs had ground together upon sighting his son, had held him at arm’s length after he had gotten a hold of his emotions and then looked up, and then up a bit, at Legolas, and had given him a stern look. “You better not make my son unhappy,” had been all that Glóin had had to say of the matter.

 

Now Gimli’s father is sharing a smoke with his son as they sit on the battlements and look over the ravaged landscape beyond, where blood had again been spilled to defend Erebor.

 

‘You would tell me if he…’

 

‘Father, he is good for me. He is the one I’ve been looking for.’

 

_ ‘He’s an elf.’ _

 

It’s not said unkindly, but simply as a statement of fact and Gimli decides to take it as such. ‘Kíli has been married to an elf for almost a century,’ he says and blows a ring of smoke into the air.

 

‘Well,  _ he _ is Kíli, not a lot of sense in that lad, still acts like a barely-grown dwarf and him older than you. And still fawns over her like they are newly wed.’

 

‘Are you trying to say that you do not behave just like that with mother?’

 

Gimli doesn’t need to turn to look and verify the blush across his father’s cheeks, as it is an old tease and he knows his father well.

 

They smoke in quiet contemplation and Gimli doesn’t even notice the passage of time, if for the small ache in his chest, caused by Legolas being away from his side. He near jumps up at the approach of familiar light steps, accompanied by the merry chatter of his mother, to which Legolas gives short but not clipped or unkind answers. 

 

And when Gimli does see Legolas rounding the corner and coming outside, he acts just as lovestruck and silly as his cousin and his father, making the latter burst into a hearty guffaw. Gimli doesn’t care, as kissing Legolas is infinitely more important.


	5. Of Enderaments and Marriage Beds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legolas and Gimli discuss tattoos and whether or not one can have more than one marriage bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REGRET NOTHING.
> 
> Written for Day 5: Languages and/or Writing of gigolas week 4.

 

Upon his return home, to Erebor, Gimli finds himself in possession of a new set of rooms, as his old room does not do for a married couple.

 

‘I have never shared a bed with anyone before,’ Legolas comments as they lie down side by side in a bed too short for Legolas, although a longer bed has been promised. 

 

Gimli shifts, quite liking how Legolas has been forced to fold his legs entwined with his own for the lack of space. ‘We have shared a bed before,’ he reminds, remembering a bed shared in Minas Tirith before and after great and terrible things which had altered the world and it’s fate, their personal fates already sealed long before.

 

Legolas shifts, his slim long fingers splayed over Gimli’s gurred chest, over inked runes, right over where his love makes Gimli’s heart beat faster. ‘But they have been the beds of other’s, borrowed but not fully our own.’ He shifts up, to look down at Gimli. ‘This is our marriage bed.’

 

‘Thought we had one of those already,’ Gimli comments but doesn’t deny Legolas as he bends down to kiss him, his blood singing for him as their naked limbs shift together as hands roam.

 

‘Can we not have more than one?’ Legolas asks after a bit, gifting Gimli with a grin, and a view of the flush tinting his cheekbones.. 

 

Legolas’ fingers are still over Gimli’s heart. ‘Will you ink my name on your skin, meleth-nîn?’

 

Gimli’s big fingers grasp his, laces their fingers together. ‘Your name is already written in my heart, kurdel.’

 

Legolas smiles and kisses Gimli again and they let their passion do the talking for them.

 

*

 

Later, Gimli  _ does _ get Legolas’ name inked on his skin. 

 

In delicate elven script.

 

Legolas likes it quite a bit.


	6. A Good Soak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bath rules are breached and Kíli is almost a hindrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for day 6:water of gigolas week 4.

Gimli doesn't expect Legolas to take to the hot baths in Erebor quite like he actually does, with loose-limbed indulgence, owing to the elf’s predilection of actually liking a dip in what Gimli deems an icy stream, calling it refreshing.

 

Gimli must admit that the baths are a nice way to soak away the last vestiges of the ardours of their journeys. 

 

Legolas, the shameless creature that he is, does indecent things to Gimli’s body under the water, things not usually done in the baths unless one can be certain that absolutely no-one is coming. 

 

Legolas’ hand stills and he leans a little away from Gimli as a certain soon-to-be-throttled cousin of Gimli’s wades into the waters from the other end, wife in tow. In the gloom behind, the golden prince of Erebor is not far behind, if Gimli is not mistaken.

 

‘Hello Gimli, Legolas,’ Kíli greets cheerfully across the water, wading toward them, Tauriel gliding through the water beside him ‘enjoying a soak?’

 

‘Yes,’ Gimli’s voice is strangled, Legolas’ hand has not actually stilled and the gloom of the cavern nor the water itself hides little.

 

Legolas calls out softly in his elven tongue, of which Gimli has only learned the most intimate and important phrases, those of love and passion.

 

Tauriel halts Kíli’s progress and bends down to whisper to him. ‘Um, well leave you to your soak, then!’ Kíli calls out over the water, sounding startled, yet an undercurrent of merriment in his tone. He and Tauriel turn and leave hastily, leaving Gimli and his elf to their soak.

 

It's the best bath Gimli thinks he's ever had.


	7. Love, Young and Fresh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gimli will be allright as long as he has Legolas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for day 7: aman/the west, of gigolas week 4 in 2017.   
> -

Gimli likes living in Erebor with Legolas, but his own heart years for the wider world now, and promises of help to Aragorn and the whispers of the Glittering caves in his dreams are luring him away from the life he had known. And the gull’s call has made his elf’s heart restless, made him yearn for the West, for the Undying lands beyond the Sea.

 

But, so far, Gimli gets to keep Legolas, love him in a world he knows, for everything is uncertain as the West is concerned.

 

And Erebor will not be the same for long, either, as there is one very old consort, who will soon make a final journey, and a new king to sit on the throne.

 

But their love is still young and fresh and Gimli feels giddy in it, though he is no lad. He gets to fall asleep by Legolas’ side and see him merry by day and that is enough, as the future is still far ahead, unexpected and so filled with the best of expectations.  

 

As long as Legolas is with him, Gimli doesn’t care where he sets his head to rest at night.


End file.
